Stellar Blade: Complete Edition is officially coming to Switch 2 in 2026 and, to help with the wait, we're sharing over five minutes of gameplay from this upcoming version and our chat with Dong-ki Lee, CTO at Shift Up, about what it took to bring this action-adventure title to Nintendo fans.
We had the chance to speak to Lee at gamescom, and he began by sharing what fans can expect when the long-awaited port of Stellar Blade arrives later this year. Oh, and you can check out the new look at gameplay on Switch 2 below!
"As you know, Stellar Blade first released on PlayStation in 2024 and then PC the year after," Lee said. "Within that year gap, we added a lot of content, including two DLCs, additional outfits, and more seasonal content and events. Now, this is all coming to Switch 2 in one complete edition."
We enjoyed our time with Stellar Blade, in large part due to the "rock solid fundamentals of its Sekiro-inspired combat system, a deep well of hideous monstrosities to sharpen your sword against, and plenty of hidden goodies that do a great job of incentivizing exploration throughout."
If you played Stellar Blade on PS5 or just enjoy the DualSense's haptic feedback, you'll be happy to know the team translated it to Switch 2 in a very authentic way.
"If we had just tried to recreate the data for it to work on Switch 2 for HD Rumble, we wouldn't have been able to offer the same experience," Lee noted. "What we did was take the exact same data that we use for PlayStation 5 and convert it to fit HD Rumble on Switch 2. So, what you're feeling is actually the exact same gameplay experience that you would feel on PlayStation 5."
Beyond that, Lee confirmed Stellar Blade on Switch 2 includes touchscreen support, gyro mode, and even mouse controls.
"We wanted to ensure the player can play exactly how they want," Lee said. "And this is all while keeping and maintaining the beauty of the game and the experience that it gives."
We then chatted for a few moments about what it took to get Stellar Blade running on Switch 2, and Lee shared that the team had to really focus on memory optimization and "kind of change the internal logic so it fits the console." This all will hopefully lead to Switch 2 players being able to enjoy the game to its fullest.
What it has done is help for future titles, Lee shared. While Stellar Blade started as an exclusive and Lee wouldn't confirm one way or another if future titles will be too (Stellar Blade: Blood Rain has yet to confirm launch platforms), he did say that being able to port it to two more platforms helped the team familarize themselves with bringing the game to more players and preserving the "beauty" along the way.
And if you're wondering if anything has been added to the Switch 2 version of Stellar Blade, it appears to be mostly identical to that on PS5 and PC. However, there may be some surprises on the horizon...
"We plan on revealing something later, maybe, maybe not," Lee teased. "Well, in not wanting to give you an expectation, we just haven't revealed any more details just yet."
To end our conversation, we asked Lee what one of his favorite games was, and his answer may be the same as many of you!
"One of my favorite games is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," Lee said. "I would stay up all night playing that game and it made me think, "Oh, I really want to work on a console game." I was already a game developer, just not with consoles, and it it really made me think, "Okay, maybe one day I want to give that a try as well."
And so he did, and soon fans will be able to get their hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Stellar Blade. For more, check out everything added to Stellar Blade since launch.
